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Advance Market Commitments Prospects at G8

By
July 03, 2006

According to Reuters the G8 discussion of Advance Market Commitments has been tied up by political horse-trading and domestic funding questions.

A plan to develop a vaccine for poor countries against the virus that causes pneumonia and meningitis could still go forward even if G8 leaders meeting in two weeks fail to agree on funding, officials said on Friday. The Italian proposal is on the Group of Eight leaders' agenda for its meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida July 15-17 and would cost the wealthiest nations $900 million, said an Italian official, who added that the idea has broad support outside the G8.
...
Either a critical mass of G8 countries would sign on to fund the program or other countries that have begun to express interest in it could make up the difference, officials said.

Owen comments: The prospects for an agreement by the G8 on Advance Market Commitments at the St Petersburg summit now depend on the broader trade-offs that the G8 countries will be making.  The countries that support the idea - which appear to include Italy, Canada, UK and now the US - may have bigger fish to fry. It seems likely that this year's G8 process will be dominated by issues of energy security. Normal service on development issues should resume next year when Germany takes on the Presidency of the G8. 

Incidentally, the criticism of the scheme reported in this article ("the only serious concern publicly expressed so far is from pharmaceuticals and nongovernmental organizations who told a British government survey earlier this year they feared the program might crowd out other research") would apply to any scheme which successfully increases R&D in neglected diseases.

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CGD blog posts reflect the views of the authors, drawing on prior research and experience in their areas of expertise. CGD is a nonpartisan, independent organization and does not take institutional positions.

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